


A Night at the Albany

by unwillingadventurer



Category: Raffles - E. W. Hornung
Genre: Crime and Cricket, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 14:23:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19358797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwillingadventurer/pseuds/unwillingadventurer
Summary: Bunny wakes up on the Albany settee with little recollection of the previous evening.





	A Night at the Albany

My head felt groggy and my lips dry as I awoke in the middle of the night, darkness surrounding me. There was silence. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I realised I was not alone and that there was someone nearby watching me. I didn’t even know where I was and had a sudden sense of panic as my eyes searched for something familiar. It was at that moment I heard a voice.

I jumped back, startled.

“Bunny?”

I clutched my chest. It was Raffles’ voice. What blessed relief that I was not about to be murdered by some villainous fiend who had kidnapped me and hidden me in some shabby digs. 

A dim light suddenly illuminated Raffles’ face and he was so close to me then, holding a gas-lantern in his strong hands, and grinning widely with affection.

“Everything alright Bunny?”

I looked around now that I could actually see and I realised I was in the safety of the Albany, under a blanket on Raffles’ settee. My head was throbbing and I could see the empty whiskey glasses on the table next to my cigarette case and a discarded bowtie.

“Rather a party it was, my boy. Seems you’ve not quite recovered.”

I didn’t remember a thing about any party. I couldn’t remember arriving at the Albany and I certainly didn’t recall how I ended up on the settee for the night with a blanket around my torso.

“What happened?” I asked.

He flashed another smile. He seemed to be enjoying my discomfort. “Well, you were a little worse for wear. I couldn’t possibly send you home in that state. I thought it wise to let you sleep it off here.”

He passed me a glass of water and I drank it thirstily, ignoring the droplets of liquid dribbling down my chin.

“Why are you not in bed?”

“I was. Couldn’t sleep.”

“Were you watching me?”

He laughed. “It’s surprisingly relaxing to watch you, my dear Bunny. I felt my eyes closing almost instantly.”

“That doesn’t make me feel relaxed,” I muttered, “you gave me a fright.”

“Poor Bunny. Do you not remember anything about last night?”

A sudden anxiety rose through me. What had I done? What had I said? Raffles was giving nothing away but I was in a state of panic as he lit a Sullivan and took several puffs. Finally, he handed me one.  
I glanced around the sitting room at the Albany and looked at the clock on the mantle, having to narrow my eyes to see it in the dim light. Four thirty-six. I didn’t remember anything after eight-thirty the previous evening! 

In the silence and darkness, the Albany seemed a different place. I had never spent the night there- Raffles and I were only so recently reacquainted- though I’d often dreamed of such an invitation and I always pictured it as warm and cosy and alive. But in the early morning it was empty and cold, waiting for the new day to start, for the sound of birdsong or carriages outside. However, with Raffles sitting beside me, somehow the room became the cosy and alive place it usually was, as though he managed to bring life to the Albany all on his own, every time he answered that door and I saw that handsome face greeting me with a devilish smile.

“What did I do last night, A.J?”

“Can’t you guess?”

I was indignant. “Guess? Of all the cheek.”

“It’s much more fun that way.”

I tried to get up, scrambling in the blanket, caught in the cover and unable to free myself. He was torturing me on purpose!

“Need some help?”

“No thank you. I wish to know what I said or did. If I offended you, I wish to make amends. If I broke something, I wish to pay. If I embarrassed you, then I offer my sincerest apologies.”

“You did not offend me, you never could. You did not break anything, though you are sometimes clumsy. And you never embarrass me, Bunny.”

I stood up finally. “Then what on earth am I guilty of? Were there others here? Did I offend or break or embarrass one of them?”

Raffles laughed. “No, Bunny, you did not break anyone and they were all quite tucked up in their own beds after midnight before your little…confession.”

My heart sank. “Confession?”

His eyes were peering intensely into mine and I was lost in the blueness of them. Did I dare ask? Could I simply hope for the best and not say anything? Did I really want to know what I had confessed? Sometimes ignorance was bliss.

And his smile was bliss. He was grinning at me, teasing me, playfully eyeing me up and down with the knowledge of my indiscretion. 

“Nothing to be ashamed of my boy.”

“Then perhaps we should leave it.”

He looked at me for a moment and I rushed past him to the door.  
He held his arm out in front of the door and I was reminded of that night when I’d come to him for help. “Bunny, where are you going?”

“To Mount street. I need to take a bath.”

“You can have one here my dear fellow. You can try my new rosemary bath soaps.”

“But I should get back.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” 

“Forgetting something?”

He coughed and then pointed to my legs which I realised at that moment had no trousers upon them. 

“Why am I not wearing trousers?” I said, diving for the settee, and covering the blanket over my legs.

“You took them off last night, said you were rather stuffy. You hung them over a lamp shade which isn’t normally where they are kept.”

I placed my hands over my face. “Oh Raffles, I’m dreadfully sorry. I thought you said I didn’t embarrass you.”

“Why would it embarrass me? If a fellow can’t take off his trousers in the company of another fellow then what is the world coming to? Besides, it’s no worse than things I’ve done.”

“If I had gone outside, I could have been charged with gross indecency!”

“I would never have allowed that. A friend never lets a friend go outside trouser-less. Take a bath here, Bunny. Calm yourself down. Nothing you have done is the end of the world.”

He was at my side then, rubbing my arm and leading me toward the bathroom as though I didn’t know the way. 

“I can take it from here,” I said.

“Need any help?”

“In the tub?”

“The plumbing can be a tad temperamental.”

“Comforting. I’ll be fine.”

He passed me my trousers and a towel and I opened the bathroom door. I was still shaking with anxiety at my disastrous drunken evening. As I was about to close myself in to blissful privacy, Raffles stopped me in my tracks.

“Oh Bunny?”

“Yes?”

“Your confession. It was rather sweet. And I won’t tell anyone, you have my word.”

“Tell anyone what?”

Why was I having this conversation at nearly five in the morning, in the middle of the Albany with no trousers on and holding a towel?

“That you passionately love me.”

I tried to speak but no words escaped my lips. I mouthed ‘love’ over and over but the sounds ceased to exist. I had confessed my love for Raffles? I had told him exactly how I felt and here he was staring at me, knowing all my innermost passions. What was he thinking? What did it mean? Why was he smiling? Could the ground swallow me up? 

“Have a nice soak Bunny,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. And just like that he was pushing me into the room. “We’ll have a nice talk when you’re feeling more with it, my dear Rabbit.”


End file.
